February 08, 2005

Even For the AP-A New Low

I haven't posted in two months because I have a life. I took on a real job after enjoying a number of years of semi-retirement. I expect posting to be infrequent. Also,we won-thank God. However this headline on Yahoo News

Arabs Hope Mideast Cease-Fire Will Hold

Because the Yahoo News Link will disappear in a few days I'll paste the whole article.

My comments are in Blue. First the Headline-Is It Only the Arabs that Hope Cease Fire Will Hold? and second does the story even correspond to the headline?

CAIRO, Egypt - Long wary of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) yet tired of incessant regional violence, Arabs across the Middle East expressed hope that Tuesday's Israeli-Palestinian commitment to end four years of violence could pay off.

Still, many noted that because the burning issues are yet to be tackled — including the continued Israeli occupation of Arab territories, Palestinian demands for Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state and the right of return for Palestinian refugees — the bloodshed may not be over.

"I am happy to see Sharon here today and making this (cease-fire) agreement, but if he doesn't stick to his word the violence will resume," In other words of we don't get our way including the right of returning(ie the destruction of the Jewish state) the violence will resume. Hamid Youssef, a 40-year-old grocer, said while lugging a box of bananas into his Cairo store.

Several hundred Egyptian students and journalists staged separate protests to criticize their president, summit host Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites), for inviting Sharon to Egypt — the latest in a series of steps toward normalizing relations. Despite their 1979 peace deal, relations have never been warm.

"I am against normalization with Israel and I see no step forward (from this summit) for the rights of the Palestinians," Don't sense any eagerness here boss.Egyptian journalist Dina Heshmat told Associated Press Television Network during a protest outside the Egyptian Journalist's Syndicate in Cairo.

Others felt the summit could ultimately help end a conflict that has taken its toll on a region longing for political reform and economic prosperity.

"While I don't mind Sharon, I sure don't like him. But if this is going to stop the bloodshed for the Palestinian kids, I don't mind having him in my house," said 33-year-old Hassan Abd el-Warith, a fruit shop owner in a bustling, downtown Cairo souk. Bloodshed for the Palestinian kids-guess the Jewish kids who get blown up got what they deserve-Hassan-by the way does the AP interview anyone other than journalists or fruit shop owners.

"I am not against appeasement and would encourage any chance for peace, but I don't trust the Sharon administration," al-Barghouti said in Cairo, where he arrived in 1963 as a student but was prevented from returning home because of the outbreak of the 1967 war.

Some Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, would pursue key Palestinian demands.

"President Abu Mazen will be successful and will not give up on Palestinians' legitimate rights,"and what are these legitamate rights said Khaled al-Aref, representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization from the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest among Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps.

But many Arabs, familiar with the peace process' steps forward and back, felt little would change.

"I will not be optimistic until I see Sharon and his (extremist) line of thinking out of office," said Abdullah Sahar, a political science teacher at Kuwait University. "Only then can matters be treated with realism and justice."

Enough already -Why the hell would Yahoo link to this crap.Where is the Israeli side in the headlines today.